At the heart of Sustainability is the focus on what the future would look like – the future of the planet, of business and work, and as Accountants, the future of the profession. It has been reported widely that the US is short of more than 340,000 Accountants, with the AICPA reporting that about 3 out of every 4 CPAs in USA hitting retirement age as of 2020.
The Talent Retention in the U.S. Accounting and Finance Profession publication by IMA, and cosponsored by Robert Half, revealed that of the more than 1,200 survey respondents 8% of those between ages 18 to 38 intend to leave the profession within 12 months, and 11% across all age brackets. Even more worrisome is the nearly 9% decline in students pursuing the accounting major in colleges, with some schools reporting as high as 34% decline in accounting enrolment.
As you can imagine the different accounting bodies are strategizing on how to avert the impending staffing crisis. AICPA instituted the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) to develop strategies to grow the accounting pipeline, one of which is pursuing a wide variety of non-CPA certifications including IMA's Certified Management Accountant (CMA) as well as pledging to participate activities/events to help expand the pipeline. I have made this pledge, and for the future of the profession I encourage you to do so as well.
In addition to the 5 recommendations put forward in the IMA/Robert Half Retention report, what additional suggestions do you think would help improve the pipeline and enhance the future prospects of the accounting profession?
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Oluwaseun Oyekanmi, MBA, CMA
Analyst
Philadelphia PA
United States
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